Mastering Heel and Toe With Patrick Long and a 911 R
If you’re going to take driving lessons from someone, it might as well be from a guy who’s won victories at Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona. And while you’re dreaming, why not just make the lessons free? Well, thanks to Porsche, you can have it all just by pushing the play button on the video below.
Porsche driver and pro racer Patrick Long is back for Lesson 3 of the “Driving Lessons With the 911 R” video series — having successfully taught us how to situate ourselves in the car during Lesson 1, and how to master over and understeer in Lesson 2. Now, Long is here to teach us the ins and outs of the vaunted heel and toe.
In the video, Long informs us that the 911 R — Porsche’s new purist’s delight, driver’s car– has a 6-speed GT sport manual transmission, which you want to be gentle with. Avoid quick upchanges and focus on the smooth downshift.
Then he moves onto to explain heel and toe, as the camera helpfully displays his feet (and nicely rolled cuffs) in action, mastering the three pedals. “Right foot’s on the brake, rowing down through the gears, rolling your foot over onto the accelerator, matching the RPMs perfect,” says Long. “A proper heel toe downshift, not only keeps your engine happy, but it keeps the balance of the car neutral.” Or at least it does in theory.
To show the theory in practice, Long then takes two enthusiasts to Porsche’s Traction Circle at Weissach’s testing ground. While proving the theory works, he also shows us that the 911 R’s “sport” mode pretty much makes it unnecessary altogether.
But wouldn’t you feel better doing it yourself? Well, watch the video below and you’ll know how.